Canadian Challenger

Constructed 1n 1958 for Eaton's of Canada Department Stores.

Maiden Voyage ~ October 27th, 2015 at Whitewater Lake in
Azilda, Ontario after a complete restoration.

Her Story...

Aquired in May of 2015 near Thorndale, Ontario, she was in pretty good shape over all.

The combo came with a vintage trailer that still had the original one part rim/hub assembleies and original rubber. As neither the wheels were reliable and the lights did not work we rented this UHaul to get it the over 400 kms home.

The previous owner had decaled her up as a Peterborough, which is probably who built the boat.

I swicthed up the trailer for this bunk trailer as it was a much better fit.

The floor boards were rotten and the entire interior was painted blue.
A number of ribs were cracked and there was some rot starting in the stem,
while it was very tempting to try it out, I instead got right to work.

The Stripping

While the failing blue paint allowed for some room to bargain with the seller, the
discount acheived was in no way commensurate to the ordeal of stripping I was in store for.

I hit it up first with the heat gun.

The heat gun got the majority of the paint off, however further stripping was required.

There were two diffrent types of blue paint over the original varnish.

There was a metal band installed along the bottom edge with metal fastners
to "protect" the bottom, however it did more harm than good.

There were four layers of paint on the bottom, red, blue, peacock blue,
and finally the orignal red. It was quite the messy process!

While I had been hoping to just strip the parts that really needed it,
I ended up bringing everything right down to bare wood.

It took until early August, but here it is ready to move from my
outdoor work space to my friend Al's garage.

After scarfing in several new rib parts and reparing some other
damage and localized rot with epoxy, the boat got an application
of stain to help even out and enhance the natural look of the wood.